Beat boredom with fun activities at home! Many local Albany businesses have developed creative ways for those at home to keep busy. Whip up a recipe inspired by a live streamed cooking class, embark on a scavenger hunt at home, get your sweat on with online fitness workouts and more. Keep scrolling for engaging activities to eliminate boredom.
Click here for a list of ways to digitally discover New York with virtual tours, online educational resources, videos, podcasts, lesson plans and more.
Albany Art Room
Unleash your creativity! The Albany Art Room is staying connected with the local community on Facebook. Scroll through the art studio's "Creative Distraction" prompts to spark your own artistic creation. On Mondays and Thursdays kids can join a virtual "Rainbow Drawing Club" to practice illustrating colorful arches. Follow along on Facebook for even more creative fun for the whole family!
Albany Cooking School
Improve your cooking and baking skills during this extra time at home! Albany Cooking School hosts free online cooking classes each week. Follow along on Facebook and Instagram for live videos featuring recipes such as Scottish Shortbread, quiche, apple pie, No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread, old-fashioned potato candy and more. She also offers plenty of tips and tricks for aspiring chefs to step up their cooking game.
Albany Distilling Company
Get your trivia on! Every Tuesday at 7:00 PM, Albany Distilling goes live on Instagram for "Trivia: Live From Home" edition. Encourage your best trivia buds to compete along with you for a chance to win a prize! Sip on your own cocktail crafted from Albany Distilling's spirits. If you need to stock up, the distillery is now shipping all over New York.
Capital Region Covers Challenge
Attention Capital Region musicians! Jam out to your favorite song for theCity of Albany Office of Cultural Affairs Capital Region Covers Challenge. This is an alternate way for the city of Albany to showcase talented regional musicians since Tulip Fest was postponed. Share a video of you playing a cover song and challenge three of your musical friends to participate! Send your #CapitalCovers video to Kmorales@albanyny.gov to be featured on Albany Events, WEQX, WEXT, NYS Music, and Nippertown's social media.
Downtown Albany BID
Be social while staying socially distant! The Downtown Albany BID has kicked off a series of daily virtual social hours for locals to stay engaged. There is something for everyone (and most include prizes!). From complimentary fitness classes, to sharing your take-out photos, to a streaming dance party, there are a variety of ways to join in on the fun and support the downtown community. Virtual events include Move Monday, Take-out Tuesday, Quarantine Cuisine, Thursday Night Live and Fashion Friday!
Historic Albany Foundation
Historic Albany Foundation has developed a few fun ideas to keep kids busy at home! Snap photos of objects around the house for "Alphabet Architecture Bingo" or set young adventurers up for a "Scavenger Hunt with Shapes, Letters & Colors." Play "Clue Around the House" with family photos to encourage kids to get their thinking caps on! Get the details on how to execute these engaging ideas on Historic Albany Foundation's website.
Lark Street Yoga
Need a little more zen in your life? Sign up for virtual yoga classes with Lark Street Yoga! The yoga studio is hosting live streamed and pre-recorded yoga classes for $10. A range of classes for all skill levels from barre flow, to gentle yoga with meditation, to vinyasa flow are offered.
